Grow a garden and go to jail

Bunch of elitist nuts. You think your property belongs to you...

My favourite bit - "Suitable means common"

At least it looks tidy and not overgrown. Plus it's teaching their children where food comes from.

suitable [ˈsuːtəbəl ˈsjuːt-]
adj
appropriate; proper; fit
suitability , suitableness n
suitably adv

Wow--Haha.

For the hard times we are having, I think vegetables seem quite "suitable" for a yard....

This has got to be the most idiotic, politically unsavvy move in recent times. Everyone is aware that budgets both personal and governmental are declining; and recent news stories are saying that recovery forecasts are premature; those who put time and effort into helping their families by growing some produce should be held up as examples of the kind of spirit that makes America great.


Cookie-cutter identical yards are not necessary for beautiful neighborhoods. The American spirit is beautiful, bureaucratic idiotic attempts at total control are ugly and demean the very essence of what America stands for.

I have raised flower beds in my front yard that are normally filled with veggie plants. As long as you plant them like they are flowers, no one can tell. I imagine it's the utility look of the big wooden beds they object to.

It's still ridiculous, the yard is neat and tidy and has plants in it. Most vegetable plants are as pretty and as decrotive as any flower, shrub or god forbid, grass. Grass lawns are the biggest waste of resources commonly accepted in the US in my own humble opinion. If something isn't grazing on it, plant something useful, or soemthing that doesn't require watering, mowing and fertilizing constantly.

Everyone should have vegetables and herbs planted instead of grass. You can plant them in pretty containers, in lovely decorative beds, in patterns to be pleasing to the eye, and unless you really walk into the yard to ID the plants, it's going to look as nice as a silly flower garden.

"I told her not to do it and she did it anyway"

That in a nutshell is the root of the issue. Another example of a bureaucrat demanding to have his "authority" recognized. Even on an issue so trivial as this, it was the fact she dared to defy a command issued from the small man with a small job wanting to appear important that really got to them.

We're having an issue similar to this in the town near me where the town is trying to make a resident get rid of his chickens. All because one nosy woman complained. The town council is really regretting opening that can of worms though because the backlash from the majority of the public has been severe.

Just another reason why I refuse to EVER live inside the city limits.

We had a "inspector" that used to come through the neighborhood looking to push around any housewives. He'd pick anything that could maybe be considered out of place or wrong and berate the woman while giving a written warning. He didn't have to back up written warnings, see. He never once stopped at a house where the husband was obviously home, only when the vehicles were gone.

I tormented that man for about 6 months when he either gave up and left or was fired. He tired browbeating and threatening me over a vehicle in my front yard, saying that it was an "eyesore", ignoring that it was parked and the only thing to say it wasn't running was there was no tag. No rust, no flat tires.. etc. He had to come up into the yard to see there was no tag even.

There was a provision "covered with a fitted cover" that was allowable(along with in a structure or towed away). So I put a "fitted cover" on it. It was three beat up tattered tarps, bungee-corded, tied and ducttaped into place. It was covered, and it was fitted to the vehicle. He nearly had apoplexy. I told him very calmly that I wanted him to give me a ticket so I could go to court, tell the judge my side, showing pictures of before and after with a printed copy of the statute.... and then I'd have every woman in the neighborhood come in to testify about his harrassment.

It took about 3 trips before he was defeated, and my truck is still parked neatly in place. Some people exist only to throw their non-existent weight around. Bullies irk me, and they've always irked me.

WOW!!! And,
When I saw the title of this thread, I thought it was going to be about growing DOPE!!!

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Charges dropped against Oak Park woman over veggie garden
Kim Kozlowski/ The Detroit News

Oak Park— Charges against the woman who planted a vegetable garden in her front yard have been dropped, her attorney said Thursday.

But other charges against Julie Bass have been resurrected for not having licenses for her two dogs — even though she took care of that issue, lawyer Solomon Radner said.

"This is really nothing other than a personal vendetta against the Basses either because somebody doesn't like them, or because they had the nerve to fight this unjust prosecution," said Radner, who plans to file a motion to dismiss.

City officials could not be immediately reached for comment.

Bass was charged with a misdemeanor for growing cucumbers, tomatoes and other vegetables in raised beds in her front yard, leading to a blog and Facebook page — "Oak Park Hates Veggies."

Last week, her plight went viral, gaining her an army of international supporters.

City officials — who were barraged with emails and even threatening phone calls — have since filed the paperwork to drop the charges without telling Bass, Radner said.

He wondered if they made the move to get the city out of the spotlight.

"Charges are dropped for the time being," Radner said. "Based on the games the city has been playing, I would not put it past them to drop the charges just to get the media off their back."

He reported Bass got licenses for her dogs after she was charged in June, and showed the paperwork to officials. Typically, cases are closed after the issue is addressed.

But Radner spoke to an Oak Park city attorney colleague who informed him that the dog license charge is not dead against Bass, something he called "a very dirty move."

Misdemeanor charges — including failure to have a dog license — typically carry a 93-day jail sentence, Radner said.